Remember
by Ruby
Summary: ...if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember...the power of one...


  
_A/N: Oookay...This is a weird, dark songfic with plenty of angst about Neville and...well...read it and see.   
It's set to The Power of One, sung by Donna Summers for the Pokemon movie (I really don't know much about Pokemon. When I first heard the song, I had no idea what the topic was and immediatly thought 'Harry Potter'.) _   
  
Oh, to clarify, in the beginning, Neville doesn't know Peter was the Secret-Keeper, but later, he finds out. And the whole Peter thing is merely a theory born out of speculation and the over-analyzing of my warped mind.   
  
_For Meridian, the master of all things dark and depressing, and for Dragoneyes and CobraGirl, who provoked me into a two-day writing spree and put up with me through it. ;)_   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
_  
You must always remember..._   
  
"I would like you all, please, to stand, and raise your glasses, to Cedric Diggory."   
Neville stood. He raised his glass. He didn't understand. He didn't understand what had happened. Why it happened.   
There were rumors. Rumors of You-Know-Who. Of _Voldemort_. Neville couldn't say the name. He could barely think it.   
The memories came with the name. _  
"It is very unlikely they will ever recover. The best we can do is make them comfortable..." _  
Tears stung Neville's eyes. He loved his parents, yet they didn't even recognize him.   
Dumbledore was talking again.   
"Cedric Diggory was murdered by Lord Voldemort."   
Time seemed to pass very slowly, yet Neville did not notice any of it.   
So it was true. He was back.   
Neville's anger swell inside him. His parents, _his parents_, had been tortured to insanity. They had given everything to keep the Dark Lord from returning. And was that all for nothing? The evil was back. Back and as strong as ever.   
"It is my belief—and never have I so hoped that I am mistaken—that we are all facing dark and difficult times. Some of you in this Hall have already suffered directly at the hands of Lord Voldemort. Many of your families have been torn asunder. A week ago, a student was taken from our midst."   
Neville shivered. _He's talking about me. About my family. The one I don't have anymore. _  
"Remember Cedric. Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory."   
_  
Life can be a challenge   
Life can seem impossible   
It's never easy when so much is on the line _  
  
Neville looked at his parents. Their eyes were turned towards him, but they didn't see him. Their faces were blank, as the always had been.   
In the pictures they were different. Laughing. Happy. His mother clinging to his father's arm. Dancing at their wedding. Cheering at a Quidditch game. Both trying to wave away the camera that had caught them kissing under the mistletoe, but at the same time, reluctant to let each other go.   
And the graduation photo. His parents side by side, with Peter, his mom's little brother, toasting a cheer to them.   
And beside Peter, a man that many times, Neville had mistaken for Harry: James, Harry's father. There were three others in the picture. The young Professor Lupin, Lily, Harry's mother, and Sirius Black. Black, before he turned evil. Before he betrayed the Potters. Before he killed Peter.   
Neville stared into his mother's blank face and wondered what she had been like; what she had thought when she heard her brother was dead.   
Why did everything have to happen to his family? His uncle, murdered. His parents, tortured to insanity. His grandfather, dead of a heart attack at the news.   
Was it all worth it? His family torn apart, for what? For Good. What was Good? The absence of evil? The opposite of evil? What was this thing that people died for? How could dying, no matter the cause, be good?   
And it was all for nothing. The world had collapsed back into the myriad of chaos with the news of the first attack. Two Muggles, a Muggle-born witch, and a wizard. All dead.   
Neville shivered. Dead for nothing.   
Yet fifteen years ago, the witches and wizards who died managed to buy those precious fifteen years for the next generation.   
Could he do what his parents had done? Suffer so much so that others could live? He wasn't brave like his father, he wasn't strong like his mother. He wasn't even particularly good at _anything_.   
Uncle Peter, he remembered from the stories, hadn't been anything special either. He was a normal student and a normal man, until, of course, his best friends were murdered and he went chasing after Sirius Black. _  
Could I do that? Go after a powerful Dark wizard knowing full well that I would probably die?   
What had he been thinking? Did his friends mean that much to him?   
And do _I_ have friends that mean that much to me? _  
Neville realized suddenly that several names popped into his mind. Hermione, who always had time to tutor him. Ginny, who, even if she never became his girlfriend, was still a good friend. Seamus, Dean, and Ron, his roommates who were always there. And Harry. Harry who had done everything he could to help him ever since their first year.   
Harry, the only one of his friends who knew.   
_  
But you can make a difference   
With courage you can set things right   
The gift to dream and make dreams real is yours and mine _  
  
It had been in their fifth year, when Harry stopped him after class and pulled him aside. "We have to talk."   
Four very simple words, yet they meant so much.   
"Neville," Harry hesitated, "I don't know how to say this, but I know about your parents."   
"Wh-What?"   
"I'm sorry... I found out last year by accident, and I wasn't sure if I should say something, but... Back in class, when she started on the Unforgivables, I remember last year..."   
Last year. Moody. The fake Moody. Who was really the man who tortured his parents.   
Harry continued. "I saw the look on your face when we drew assignments."   
Each of them had to write a report on one of the Unforgivables. Origin, effects, notable cases. They had draw lots to decide who would do which curse so they didn't all pick the same one.   
"Which one did you get?"   
Neville silently unclenched his fist and showed the slip of parchment to Harry. _  
Cruciatus Curse _  
Harry nodded. He handed Neville a similar piece of parchment, obviously Harry's assignment. _  
Killing Curse _  
Neville shuddered.   
"I know everything there is to know about that curse. Last year when Moody lectured, I wrote down every word. All I'd need is 'notable cases'. I'd bet my entire Gringotts account my name's stamped all over it."   
Neville said nothing.   
"I don't want do to do a report on how my parents died, and I don't think you do either."   
Neville looked up. "But I have to, don't I? You think I don't know? You think I don't know my parents are the most famous victims of the Cruciatus Curse?" He clenched his jaw to keep the tears away.   
"I know you do." Harry remained calm. "But you don't have to do it. We can switch assignments."   
"What?"   
"We can switch. You do _Avada Kedevra_, I do _Crucio_."   
"Harry..."   
"We won't get in trouble. Fogner didn't say we couldn't switch."   
"No, Harry, I didn't mean that. I was going to say, thank you."   
Harry looked a little surprise. "Actually, I should thank _you_."   
_  
The power of one   
Begins with believing   
It starts in the heart   
And flows through the soul   
And changes the world _  
  
Harry buried his face in his hands. "No. No!"   
"I'm sorry, Harry." Hermione whispered with tears in her eyes. "I'm so sorry."   
"WHY? Why did this have to happen?" Harry raged.   
Hermione wrapped her arms around him, both to hug him and to hold him still. "It'll be okay, Harry. It'll be okay."   
"Oh, Sirius..."   
Tears dripped down Hermione's face. Sirius was dead.   
"Will Ron be okay?"   
And Ron... Ron was in a coma.   
"I don't know." She whispered truthfully.   
"This was a mistake."   
"Harry!" Hermione shook him. "Don't say that!"   
"Ron could die, Hermione! Sirius already is! It isn't worth it!"   
Hermione's eyes blazed angrily. "Obviously, your parents thought it was!"   
Harry sagged.   
"They died to protect you. They died knowing that if you survived, you could destroy Voldemort. This is your destiny, Harry. We have the Stone. Yes, Sirius died for it and yes, Ron may have too, but _we have the Stone_. Now it's your turn, Harry. Use it."   
Harry's pale face stared into Hermione's. "I need time. A week. Two. I need time. To use it. To learn it. I need time to get in."   
"We have time."   
"We don't have protection."   
"Fidelius."   
"What?"   
"The Fidelius Charm. Remember? The backup plan we worked out in case something went wrong. We'll use that."   
"But I never thought..."   
"I know you don't like it, but it's our only chance."   
"My parents used it and they died!"   
"They used Peter. We won't be betrayed."   
Hermione looked deep into Harry's eyes. "It's the only way."   
"You said you'd use Ron."   
"Well, we'll change that."   
"Sirius's dead."   
"I know."   
"Lupin's vulnerable during the full moon."   
"I know."   
"Who else is there?"   
"I'll find someone."   
_  
Each of us is chosen   
There's a mission just for you   
Just look inside you'll be surprised what you can do _  
  
"Hi."   
Neville looked up. "Hermione?"   
She lifted her hood slightly. "Shhh... Not so loud."   
"It is you. When I got the message..."   
"It was purposely obscure, in case it fell into the wrong hands."   
"How are you?"   
"Fine."   
"And Harry?"   
"Tired, but ready."   
"I heard," Neville leaned close, "_you had the Stone_."   
Hermione nodded.   
"Then..." Neville searched her face. "Why isn't it over yet?"   
"We need a safe place to hide. Seven days. For seven days Harry will be vulnerable. I'll be with him to monitor the spell, but I can't protect him if Voldemort finds us."   
"Then..."   
"We're going to use the Fidelius Charm."   
"I don't understand..."   
"Neville, will you be our Secret-Keeper?"   
Neville's breath caught in his throat. "Me-me?" He squeaked.   
"Please."   
"But, I'm not good at anything. I'm not a powerful wizard. Why me."   
"You're our only hope."   
"But...Ron..."   
"Ron's in a coma."   
"Wha-? "   
"Please, Neville. Help us."   
Neville stared at his hands. "I don't know if I can do this, Hermione. I'm not brave, or smart, or anything..."   
Hermione grabbed his shoulders and looked into his eyes. Her chin was set, and a desperate fire danced in the irises of her eyes. "I believe in you, Neville. We _need_ you."   
"You trust me?"   
"I know about Peter, but you're not Peter. You're my friend, and I know you would never betray us. If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't be here."   
Trust. She trusted him. Was he ready? Could he ever be ready?   
Neville wasn't sure, but he knew he could never turn Hermione down.   
"I'll do it."   
_  
Imagine how life will be   
When we stand in unity   
Each of us holds the key   
To the power of one _  
  
Hermione and Harry held their wands over Neville's heart. His own wand was also pointed at the same spot.   
"Ready?" Hermione asked.   
Neville nodded.   
"_My secret I give to your soul to keep,_" Harry whispered.   
"_34 River Springs Road, Godric's Hollow_." Hermione said the secret clearly.   
"_Your secret my soul takes to hold_." Neville said the next line.   
"_Fidelius_."   
"_Fidelius_."   
"_Fidelius_."   
The powerful surge of magic coursed through their wands and into Neville's body. It did not hurt. He could feel the power inside him, the bright speck that was the Secret lodged in his heart, but the only two sensations were one of warm, and one of heaviness. Warm from the nature of the magic, heaviness from the importance of the Secret.   
Neville hugged both Hermione and Harry. "Good luck, and goodbye."   
_  
The power of one   
Begins with believing   
It starts in the heart   
And flows through the soul   
And changes the world _  
  
Harry clenched his jaw as sweat poured down his face in rivets. "Almost..."   
"You can do it, Harry. You can do it. You can get in."   
"His mind...He's protected his mind."   
"Chip down the wards. Slowly. One by one."   
"_Cassio_."   
A pause.   
"_CASSIO_!"   
Harry slumped over and groaned.   
"Harry?" Hermione gasped.   
"I'm okay." Harry said weakly. "Almost in."   
Hermione stared at the blue-green stone in Harry's hand. _Let this work. Please, let this work. _  
"I see it... I can't quite reach it yet, but I see it."   
The link. Voldemort's link to his body. Once Harry broke it, his soul would be dragged out of the world of the living. _  
Come on, Harry. _  
"Oh, no..."   
"Harry?"   
"Neville. He's got Neville."   
"Hurry."   
"An hour. That'll all I need. An hour."   
"Neville won't betray us."   
Silence.   
_  
One by one   
We can make the world   
A much better place   
_  
He had been caught. They had blown his apartment door off its hinges. It was in thousands of pieces now.   
He had just stood there, staring, whispering only, "_Voldemort_." The first and last time he would say that name aloud.   
"Where is Potter?"   
"I don't know."   
"You're lying. Do not lie to me."   
"I don't know!" He was desperate. The lie was not even convincing to his own ears.   
"Tell me, and I will spare you."   
"No!"   
"Tell me, or you will fall with the fools."   
"We're going to win."   
"Remember your parents? Fools. Look what side they chose, and look how they fell. Don't make the same mistake boy."   
"Shut up about my parents!"   
"Tell me where Potter is, or you will fall the same way they did." _  
Say no. Say no, just say no. _  
The sound didn't come out.   
"You know you want to. This playing hero was never what you wanted. That is the job of the likes of Potter and his little friends. You can have power. Join me like your uncle did. It is in your blood, boy. Join me!"   
Neville wanted to say no, but could only shake his head.   
"Then perhaps I will have to convince you."   
"_Crucio_."   
_  
The power of one   
Begins with believing   
It starts in the heart   
And flows through the soul   
And changes the world   
_  
Neville screamed again as the curse hit him. _  
Help me. Someone help me. _  
...I love you, darling. Don't forget me... _  
Mother... _  
You are me son, and I believe in you. _  
It's so hard... _  
What is right will always be right, no matter how hard it is. _  
I can't... _  
Believe.   
The pain lifted, but the aching remnants remained.   
"Where is he? TELL ME!" _  
No. _  
"No."   
"SPEAK!"   
"NO!" Neville screamed. He never knew he could scream so loudly, with so much force. He never thought his body had that kind of strength.   
"_Crucio_."   
_  
Imagine how life will be   
When we stand in unity   
Each of us holds the key   
It's inside of you and me _  
_  
I won't tell. I won't tell him anything. I won't do it. No matter what he does to me. I won't betray Harry. I won't. _  
Nonononono...   
Pain. Stabbing. Burning. Pain.   
Painpainpainpainpain... _  
Please, stop. Stop...   
It hurts. Hurthurthurt... _  
"Stop." Neville gasped. "Stop!"   
"Where is Potter?" _  
You can't do this! You can't do this to Harry. You can't! It's wrong. It's evil. Stop! _  
Another voice. In his head. _  
"...Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort..." _  
Neville remembered. _  
You will lose, Voldemort. You will lose. _  
"TELL ME!"   
"_Never_."   
_  
Each of us holds the key   
To the power of one   
_  
The pain was disconnected. _What's happening?_ Neville thought. _Why don't I feel the pain?   
I'm dying._ He realized. _  
I did it. _Neville thought to himself. _I survived. Harry's safe. The world's safe. I did it. I did it Mom. I won. _  
Neville closed his eyes and his heart stopped beating. _  
  
The power of one... _   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
